The Truth Always Matters
by JCxX
Summary: "The more I looked at him, the more I saw how worn down he actually is, I sat up straighter. He turned away from me, and what I saw blew my mind." You can't keep the truth from Mario. Rated "T" for sensitive topics please review!


**Hi guys! I hope you had a good holiday (or whatever you celebrate)! Here's a random story for you and yeah... **

**Enjoy! **

***The villain can be whoever you want (except Bowser), I didn't name him because he's completely irrelevant to the plot **

**PS: hopefully it'll tie you over until the next chpt. of "Breathe" is finished! **

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><p><strong>Mario: <strong>

I helped Princess Peach out of the cage she was locked in and gathered her into my arms. I had to admit, the guy who kidnapped both her _and _Bowser had skill. I have to give him credit, Bowser's hard to capture, since he recently updated his security.

"Are you okay, Princess?" I ask her, as she clung to me,

"Yes, Mario, thank you." She smiles warmly, for some reason or another, I had a hard time believing her, I rose an eyebrow at her. She notices my worry and says, "Mario I'm okay, so, stop worrying." She followed me to where I had to untangle Bowser from the mess he was in. He gave me a glare that said _I'm not thanking you but...Yeah _as I tossed the chains aside. Both of them followed me to the exit but suddenly, Peach grabbed my hand. I stopped and turned to her, Peach's face was white, "Mario, wait!" Her voice was shaky and full of anxiety, I had freed everyone..Right? "He took Luigi as well." There's no way he could've taken my brother as well, Luigi was at home; safe and sound. How did the guy get past me? He hadn't mentioned Luigi _once_ while he was alive.

My stomach flipped and my jaw dropped, I searched Peach's eyes and I saw nothing but truth and worry, I blinked,

"_What?_" I say sharply, my muscles tensing. I had no idea what the guy did with Luigi, from what I've seen him do; he's pretty rough. Peach nodded quickly,

"I saw it with my own eyes, I don't know _where _he took Luigi, but I know I saw them go over there." She says, tears forming, I sigh and pat her arm,

"It's okay, Princess. We'll find him." She pointed left of where she thought they went. I walked down the long, dark hall, ignoring Bowser's comments along the way.

...

What felt like forever and constantly making sure Peach was behind me (Bowser too), we came across a bunch of cells. I couldn't find a torch to light or a source of visibility in the cold room. With what little vision I had from my eyes, I pulled out my lighter, which only helped by about two percent.

"Luigi?" I called his name, hoping no guards were down here, the area seemed empty but I heard a slight movement out of a cell to my right. I call out his name again, but no response as we continued to look for him. I finally reached the end of the cells and saw a torch out of the corner off my eye. I grabbed it and lit it with my lighter, the torch was inflamed and I could finally make out certain details. The more I looked in the cells, the more I had become grossed out, I saw about one or two outlines of disintegrated bodies. All that were left were bones and dirt...

"Mario! I think I found him!" Peach exclaims from behind me, I quickly turn to her, hoping for the best. In the cell she was looking into, I saw a faint outline of what seemed like a body. I squinted and drew the torch near the bars of the cell, the more I looked, the more the outline became clearer. I stood up, and turned to Bowser,

"Bowser, break the bars down." I say firmly, he remained in his place, I had to keep myself from cussing. "Bowser. Now."

"How do you know it's even him?" He says sharply.

"I know my brother to a "T", now, c'mon!" I say, frustrated, he stepped forward and yanked the bars and stepped again. The bars were bent this way and that; meaning they weren't very sturdy but not weak enough that a human could break them down. Bowser gestured to the cell; _go on_. I walked slowly into the cell, with the torch firmly in my grip. I smiled in relief when I saw Luigi through the torch's flame,

"Luigi! Hey, are you okay?" I reached to touch him but he flinched and turned away from me. I knelt down next to him, seeing him ricocheting with fear, my eyes became concerned, "We're gonna get you out of here, bro." I reached my hand out for him, but he just sat there, I groaned and pulled him up. "Can you stand?" I ask, taking in his physical appearance, no injuries that were bleeding, so that's good. It seem he had some bruising but it'll go away in a few days.

I took my hand off his arm and let him stand up. I gave a short gasp as he stumbled on his feet and grabbed his arm again. Peach helped me support him as we walked out of the cell area and into the main room again.

Outside the place where Peach, Bowser, and Luigi were captive, I tossed the torch inside. Now having better light, I looked everyone over, including myself for injuries. Peach already confirmed she was okay, I assumed Bowser was (he never told me other wise), lastly, Luigi; he looked like he'd seen a ghost with his timid expression. He had still been shaking and immediately pulling away from mine and Peach's support on him, it almost seemed like he didn't _want_ to be touched. He'd flinch every time someone's hand came near him, and he also had been silent the whole time. I tried to get him to talk,

"Bro? Are you okay? You're acting funny." I ask, confusion filling me, noticing his struggle to keep himself vertical. It almost looked like he was hiding something from me; which isn't allowed in my house. I decided that he's not going to talk, at least not right now, I made a decision to wait until he calms down more.

...

It was fairly late by the time we arrived back at the Mushroom Kingdom and I, for one, was exhausted and I knew the others were, too. I kept a close eye on everyone but more so Luigi, noticing the way he walked. He had been silent the whole trip home, not saying a word; not even when asked a question. He didn't look anyone in the eye, he'd just absently looked out in the distance. Bowser went off a while ago back to his joint so, it was just me, Luigi and the Princess.

I walked Peach back to her castle where Toadworth was waiting. She kissed my cheek and thanked me, waving to us, she returned to the castle. Luigi and I walked home, not saying anything to each other; which by the way, silences with Luigi were never awkward. Luigi usually just lives in his head, using something called, escapism. It was either that or he's deep in thought but, I could tell it was escapism because he's too tired to be thinking about anything. I pulled the key out from my pocket and unlocked our front door. I decided to ask him one more time before showering,

"Luigi, are you _sure _you're okay?" I saw a slight shrug and that was it.

When I woke the next morning, I already heard Luigi messing in the kitchen. Then I began to wonder just how much sleep he actually had got last night? I crawled out of my warm bed and down the hall. I looked at the wall clock to see it was only 9:30 a.m.; Luigi's up early. Usually he sleeps in until about noon before he wakes up, but I don't ever really see him up before then. I rubbed my face as I entered the kitchen to see Luigi making coffee,

"You're up early." I say tiredly, going to the fridge, he didn't say anything but instead, flinched at my voice. I must've scared him... Now that I thought about it more, Luigi's only up early if he can't sleep or he's sick or injured. I watched him shuffle around the kitchen carefully, his face showed some sort of discomfort and I could see how tense he was. Maybe he had a bad nightmare or something; who knows...

_Two days later..._

I could now clearly see Luigi was in pain, and how he'd wince softly every time he'd move or get up from the couch. I didn't know why he was hiding an injury from me, he knows that I get mad if he does. After an incident back in grade school, he learned quickly not to hide things from me any longer. Apparently, this is the "exception". But now this was just getting out of hand, for the last few days he had played through the pain well. But now? Now it's just down right stupid; he couldn't keep the misery off his face the whole ride back from the baseball game earlier.

I won't stand for this anymore, it's gone on long enough. Long enough that he's using the wall as a support system, and to top the cake off, he's not talking either. If he did, it's real quiet. Something happened back at that dungeon/cell thing that he's not telling me. Not to forget to mention how sensitive he's been; he refuses to let anyone to touch him.

I eyed him carefully as he walked across the hall,

"Luigi?" I ask, making him jump a little,

"Hmm?" He finally mutters, turning to me,

"Why are you shirtless?" I rose an eyebrow, his eyes soften a little,

"I'm...Uh, showering." He stutters, I felt dumb for asking that, why else would he be shirtless? The more I looked at him, the more I saw how worn down he actually is, I sat up straighter. He turned away from me, and what I saw blew my mind.

I immediately stood up, my face hardening, as Luigi was about to close the door,

"Luigi. Get over here...Now." I say, using the "no BS" tone I save for drastic measures, his back remained facing me. He knew he was in trouble now, he slowly turned around,

"Wh- why?" He says, obviously caught in a lie, I close my eyes to regain myself,

"Don't ask, just get over here." I say sharply, he carefully walked to me, a confused look on his face. I automatically say what he was up to, "Nice try, Luigi. You really had me going there." I start before he could intrude, I gesture for him to turn around. He stood there, not obeying, "Don't make me ask again, turn around." I say harsher, which I immediately regretted, seeing him clench and unclench his fists. He still didn't oblige, I push him around myself after my patience was lost, and I nearly fainted at what I saw.

Standing there with shaky legs and tense muscles, not one of us said a word. My eyes widened at the sight of the puffy, red, long scars on his back. They looked irritated or rather infected, and haven't been treated. I began to wonder how long he's had these, then it came to me like a train that ran me over. The tense muscles, shaky body, flinching at a touch, being antisocial...This has been going on since we left the - I think-, storage warehouse. I drew in sharp breath,

"Luigi...Sit down." I say more calmly, noticing how hostile he's becoming. He didn't look at me or say anything, just continued to stare at the floor, wrapping his arms around his midsection. He swallowed hard as he sat down slowly on the couch, I shook my head as I looked at his back. "What happened?" I ask, and regained my patience, he shook his head, refusing to answer me. My shoulders sink a little, I try to set a hand on his shoulder but he immediately scooted away from me. I sigh a little, running my fingers through my hair, I studied the scars for a moment and thought about who or _what_ could've done this.

Terrible images flooded my mind of Luigi being beat like this, I shook my head again and added,

"I'm not going to hurt you, bro. I just want you to tell me what happened." Suddenly, out of nowhere, Luigi started crying. I moved closer to him, but again, he moved away. He finally looked at me and said,

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry, Mario." His wasn't crying loudly, like he usually would if he were in pain, but now the tears were forcing themselves to drop because he kept holding them back. I carefully scooted closer to him,

"There's nothing to be sorry for, bro." We sat together in silence for a few minutes until Luigi's pain filled cries subsided, I gave another shot on asking him, "So...Luigi, can you at least tell me who did this to you?" Luigi turned to me,

"Th-the guy who captured u- us.. He had his guards do it..." Luigi's voice trembled, tears streamed down his face,

"..And what did the guards use?" I say, fearing the worst, then added, "Bro, they look like scars from a whip." Luigi visibly tensed at the word "whip". I drew in another breath, and bit the inside of my mouth. The more I looked at the scarring, one of them seem to have dry blood around it. I swiftly got up and grabbed a towel and the first aid kit, and sat back down next to him. "This might sting..." I say, Luigi curled up more in a shell as I came near him with the wet towel, "Luigi, you've got to let me take care of you. You don't have to speak, just let me fix these up, okay?" Luigi's already stressed face became even more discontent,

"No!" He says, trying to back away, but he's already buried in the corner of the couch,

"Bro, I'm not going to hurt you. I would never do that intentionally... Especially right now." I say softly, Luigi clenched his teeth,

"I don't know that!" He says, he was either sweating or still had tears on his cheeks...Or both. I couldn't pressure him or yell at him right now; that's the worst thing to do. As of right now, I can only reassure him.

"It's okay, Luigi." I reassure him again, "All I want to do is clean these up." I gesture to his back,

"_Don't _touch me!" He spat, nearly falling off the couch if I hadn't caught him, his eyes pleaded for me to stop. I hold my hands up in defense,

"Okay. How about this, hmm? For now, can I at least bandage them up, and maybe tomorrow I can clean them?" I offer, the comfort still in my voice, Luigi was reluctant but slowly and surely uncurled from his fetal position. He was still shaking tremendously, but I didn't mind it. I looked at my younger brother uncertain and scratched my head. "Can I clean your face, bro?" I ask, noticing the beets of sweat on his forehead, he shook his head fiercely,

"No." He says simply,

"Luigi, don't you trust me?" I ask,

"What?"

"Do you trust me?" He didn't respond for a few seconds before nodding slowly, "Then please, let me clean you up. It'll hurt less than a shower." I give a small smile, "Have you showered at all in the past few days since we've returned?" Luigi shook his head, which was understandable, the water would be maybe too much pressure on his back. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can make Luigi laugh if he's upset to help lighten the mood. But I knew he's in no mood for laughing, Luigi wiped away a stray tear and looked at me,

Just..Make it quick." He trembles, I nodded taking the wash cloth and softly pressing it against his face. I silently cleaned up his face as he continued to be tense but not as bad as before.

"Luigi, why didn't you tell me sooner?" I ask him calmly,

"You were tired.. I thought they would've gone away by now... Honestly." He started to get a better grip on his voice, he hissed loudly and jumped a little.

"Sorry! It was an accident, bro!" I wince, unintentionally pressing too hard on his wounds. "Anyways, Luigi, what did you think? You'd burden me or something? Luigi, this isn't something you can keep from me! Haven't we had this discussion before? I'm pretty sure we have..." I explain, "God, what did they do to you're back, Weegie..." I whisper, seeing the scars become redder. I wrap the bandages around his waist securely. I gently pulled Luigi into a hug, which took him a few moments of reluctance to hug me back.

"Can I put a shirt on now?" He asks flatly, I chuckle a little,

"Yeah, go do that." Sometimes, I really miss this part of being a brother, an older one at that, because no matter how Luigi gets, I'll still be there to hold his hand.

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><p><strong>Phew! It's done! <strong>

**Review please! **

**:) **

**- JC**


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